Does anyone have advice on creating articulated bodies?
I'm building creatures that are supported by articulated limbs. Limbs therefore support -- in part -- a lot more mass than they themselves contain. I'm using btGeneric6DofConstraints and btRotationalLimitMotors. The constraints get violated very easily, though, which causes joint objects to twist and move around.
The hierarchies work well if each successive object in the limb has less mass and if the limb does not support any weight. It also works decently well if the limb objects are pretty big and the creature's trunk is very light. The issue really comes to the fore when limbs are load bearing and especially becomes dramatic if an element in the limb is very small (for instance, something like a coxa where an insect limb attaches).
Has anyone dealt with this issue? Are there parameters that should be tweaked (e.g. ERP, number of iterations, etc.)? I've tried a bunch of different settings, but can't seem to tame it.
Is the issue with the solver?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.